Social Physics and Algorithmic Prisons

  I. “Prom Week” When I was in school, I attended a lecture given by Michael Mateas, who talked a bit about videogames involving social interaction. Mateas was already well-known for Facade (actual game here), and was working on a new game called “Prom Week”. “Prom Week” was developed to explore the gap that I’ve touched on more »

The New Games Movement

I. Play Hard. Play Fair. Nobody Hurt. I’m returning again to Stewart Brand, the Counterculture, and tying it back in to my long-running series of notes on game studies. Someone- I forget who and it’s probably unimportant- was observing puppies play, and interpreted their play as an exchange of signals: “I could hurt you if more »

Mulling: Machines and Theories

I’ve been overworking a bit. I still wrote a little bit but nothing too coherent. (What else is new.) Part of my problem was that I temporarily stopped flying, and those three-hour sessions of confinement (plus the free drinks) were a big part of my usual writing ritual for this blog. I’m in the air more »

Text Dump: Infantilization, Dreamlogs, Liberation through Laziness

I think this happens often- when your mind changes, the network of ideas that supported your previous worldview crumble a bit, and it becomes a little bit harder to earnestly work out why the old idea was so convincing. The new idea is just so obvious. This blog has helped by acting as a repository more »

Mulling: Changing Minds

In the game “Argument Champion“, A little demon appears and shows you the thought bubbles of your audience’s beliefs [for example “I like headers” or “I dislike squids”]. Connect “positive” beliefs to your nonsense cause and “negative” ones to your opponent’s, by navigating a grid of related terms and trying to cover the smallest topological more »

From Counterculture to Cyberculture III

From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism Part 1 here: broad overview and tracing through the changing connotation of the “Computational Metaphor” from one of dehumanization and control to one of anonymity, equality, and freedom. Part 2 here: On Stewart Brand’s education and the Whole Earth Network. This more »

From Counterculture to Cyberculture II

From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism Part I here: A broad overview, tracing through the changing connotation of the “Computational Metaphor” from one of dehumanization and control to one of anonymity, equality, and radical freedom. I often get bogged down in the details because there’s so more »